Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has issued guidance to the Metropolitan Police on the circumstances in which conditions that effectively prevent a protest from taking place may be imposed under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 in the last 12 months.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 allow the police to impose conditions on public processions and public assemblies as necessary to prevent serious public disorder, serious damage to property, or serious disruption to the life of the community.

Any conditions that are necessary can be placed on the public procession or public assembly, including the location or route, time and date, or prohibiting individuals entering any public space specified.  These powers do not allow police to ban protests or prevent protests from taking place.

Decisions on how to police demonstrations are an operational matter for the police, working within the legal framework of the Public Order Act 1986.  In making these considerations, the police must always balance decisions with the right to peaceful protest.

The College of Policing is responsible for providing guidance and operational advice for frontline policing. The College of Policing produces the Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice. Alongside this, the Protest Operational Advice Document is published jointly by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support Integrated Care Board’s in providing community ear wax removal services to the public.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning local National Health Services, including ear wax removal services, and in doing so must consider how best to improve population health and achieve best value for money.

ICBs take account of relevant guidance on ear wax removal produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng98/chapter/Recommendations

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to ear wax removal services in Stockton West constituency.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning local National Health Services, including ear wax removal services, and in doing so must consider how best to improve population health and achieve best value for money.

ICBs take account of relevant guidance on ear wax removal produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng98/chapter/Recommendations

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help support (a) the older population and (b) pensioners with water poverty.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Water companies are more than doubling social tariff support for vulnerable customers and Government is working with industry to keep their support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers are supported. We are considering ways to drive more consistency across the schemes and increase awareness of the support consumers can access. Defra also expects companies to hold themselves accountable for their public commitment to end water poverty by 2030.

Government has committed to reforming the WaterSure support scheme. We recently consulted on proposals to increase scope and support to low-income households who have higher water usage due to medical needs or three or more children in the household.

We expect all water companies to make sure households are aware of the schemes and measures available to help those struggling to pay their bills and do everything they can to support all customers who are vulnerable, including having regard to the interests of individuals of pensionable age.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help support households with increases to water bills.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Water companies are more than doubling social tariff support for vulnerable customers and Government is working with industry to keep their support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers are supported. We are considering ways to drive more consistency across the schemes and increase awareness of the support consumers can access. Defra also expects companies to hold themselves accountable for their public commitment to end water poverty by 2030.

Government has committed to reforming the WaterSure support scheme. We recently consulted on proposals to increase scope and support to low-income households who have higher water usage due to medical needs or three or more children in the household.

We expect all water companies to make sure households are aware of the schemes and measures available to help those struggling to pay their bills and do everything they can to support all customers who are vulnerable, including having regard to the interests of individuals of pensionable age.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many consolatory payments were made to (a) paying and (b) receiving parents by the Child Maintenance Service in each of the last three years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The department hold records of how many consolatory payments were authorised for Child Maintenance Service customers. This information is provided in the table. We are unable to supply a breakdown of payments made to paying and receiving parents without additional work at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many an what percentage of cases concerning the Child Maintenance Service referred to Independent Case Examiners were (a) wholly upheld, (b) partially upheld and (c) wholly dismissed in each of the last three years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Independent Case Examiner publishes an Annual Report each year. Data relating to upheld rates for DWP and its individual service lines, including the Child Maintenance Service, for the years being requested, can be found within those reports.

The Independent Case Examiner’s Annual Reports are available on gov.uk. DWP complaints: Annual reports by the Independent Case Examiner - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what percentage of cases concerning the Child Maintenance Service referred to the Parliamentary Health and Health Service Ombudsman were (a) wholly upheld, (b) partially upheld and (c) wholly dismissed in each of the last three years.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

This is a matter for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s office. The Ombudsman publishes case statistics annually on her website: Publications | Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of designated areas where children can safely improve their cycling skills.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including children and young people, have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

The Government provides the majority of support for community sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. This includes long term investment to British Cycling, which receives up to £33.5 million for the funding period 2022-2029 to invest in grassroots cycling initiatives.

Sport England has also provided funding of £5.35 million to projects with cycling as the main beneficiary in 2024/2025. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in grassroots sport, including cycling, providing more opportunities for children and young people from all backgrounds to be active.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help support partnerships between schools and grassroots cycling clubs to increase participation in physical activity among pupils.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including children and young people, have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

The Government provides the majority of support for community sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. This includes long term investment to British Cycling, which receives up to £33.5 million for the funding period 2022-2029 to invest in grassroots cycling initiatives.

Sport England has also provided funding of £5.35 million to projects with cycling as the main beneficiary in 2024/2025. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in grassroots sport, including cycling, providing more opportunities for children and young people from all backgrounds to be active.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps is her Department taking to help reduce the barriers preventing young people from engaging with grassroots cycling organisations.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including children and young people, have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

The Government provides the majority of support for community sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. This includes long term investment to British Cycling, which receives up to £33.5 million for the funding period 2022-2029 to invest in grassroots cycling initiatives.

Sport England has also provided funding of £5.35 million to projects with cycling as the main beneficiary in 2024/2025. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in grassroots sport, including cycling, providing more opportunities for children and young people from all backgrounds to be active.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether patients removed from NHS waiting lists are informed by trusts of their removal and the reason for it.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Validation is a clinically supported process and forms a long-standing part of trusts’ routine management of their waiting lists. Effective communication between patients and their healthcare teams is a key part of the process, and patients should always be kept well-informed about their care management.

As part of the administrative process for validation, trusts should contact patients after 12 weeks of waiting, providing them with the opportunity to update on their current status. This will allow patients to confirm if they have been treated elsewhere, their symptoms have resolved or they otherwise no longer require an appointment, all of which would result in them being removed from the list. If a clinical decision has been taken to discharge a patient, the patient and referrer are expected to be notified by the trust, including the reason.

There is published national guidance from NHS England to support National Health Service trusts to deliver effective validation and to make best use of clinical time. NHS England also has a published national standard for outpatient clinic letters, including discharge letters, which allows clinical information to be recorded, exchanged, and accessed consistently across care settings.